Countdown to Christmas | DIY ADVENT CALENDAR PHOTOBOOK

Wednesday, November 25, 2015

I love the scent of cinnamon and ginger spice, twinkling lights, red ribbons and mistletoe. Yes, Christmas fever is spreading once again and I am one of the early victims. Decorations are well underway, Christmas sweaters are being sourced, gifts are being wrapped (yupp, it's happening) and I would love to be invited to a gingerbread house decorating party. So if you should have a last-minute cancellation, don't hesitate to let me know. I'm up for it.

No, really. This needs to be a thing in my life.

Let's be honest, the pre-Cristmas phase is always the most exciting - Oh the anticipation! The secrecy! -, which is why I am such a fan of our German tradition, the advent calendar.

Instead of stuffing all Christmas goodness into one day, why not celebrate a little bit each day?

If you ask me, this should be done, like, always! There's Valentine's Day and Easter, Thanksgiving and Halloween...
Imagine! The 31 days of Halloween... spooky!

Advent calendars are the best thing to ever happen to little impatient Christmas elves such as myself! So a big thank-you and shout-out to Mr Gerhard Lang! - Google says you are the inventor of the modern, printed calendar of glee - Dankeschön!

So this year, I decided to make my own advent calendar. Not for myself to keep clearly, since I already know what's what on December 4th. But they are so much fun to make. And even more fun to open - so why not make one to gift to a loved one?

Who wouldn't like a little treat each day in the spirit of Christmas?

Even the Grinch came to his senses, so no-one really!

Instead of making a traditional calendar however, I decided to make an advent calendar photobook!

Not something you see all too often as it doesn't involve the little "doors" or wrapping paper, but is particularly handy, beautiful, clutter-free and durable!

Add a bookmark so the gifted knows where he left off - but no cheating!

As I turn out to be a fan of photography more so every day, I thought a photobook would be ideal for this project, complete with hot chocolate, diy wreaths, movie night inspirations and Christmas carol references!

Celebrate each day with a recipe, poem, a simple craft or musical inspiration.

If you'd like to have a look at the complete photobook, you can do so by clicking here.

And if you would like to make your own, I can recommend to you the online service by pixum.

It's easy, comprehensible and gives you a ton of options. And most importantly, I am very pleased with the quality of the end result. No surprise here that the company's photobooks just came out as the winner of the most recent product test by Stiftung Warentest, the leading German consumer safety group. The great thing about this book is also, that it can be re-ordered and re-gifted as long as you keep the computer file.

WHAT YOU'LL NEED:
- internet connection
- a bunch of photographs

Step 1: To make your own photobook, start by downloading the Pixum Software. It doesn't take long, or take up too much storage space, but offers some great options.

Step 2: Access any of your old or new photographs and position them however way you like. You can do this free-handedly or start out with one of the suggested layouts. Go wild. The software will let you know if the photographic elements need repositioning or resizing, and also offers a few editing tools such as cropping the image or adjusting the lighting. You can also use ready-made masks, borders and more, and add text blocks.

In my photobook, two pages equal one "door" in a traditional printed advent calendar, so I added the numbers 1-24. To be extra sure and avoid any confusion, I added a little description on the back: "Starting on December 1st, turn one page a day up until Christmas".

Step 3: Order and wait. But not for long. It only took a few days for my book to arrive, so I was quite impressed with the speed of the production and delivery service. Clearly, a great last-minute gift idea.

Also, yum!

It is about time for some much needed Christmas cheer! So why not make your very own advent calendar or a photobook capturing your favorite Christmas memories?

WELCOME

Be they written, sung, filmed, photographed or staged, stories are where I feel most at home. On this blog I want to share with you my own stories, projects and adventures after moving to Berlin. So grab yourself a cup of tea and be prepared to smile, laugh, cheer or cry. Hopefully smile more often than cry though.